Carrie Havranek

The best way to start this post is with a simple declarative sentence: I got a Vitamix for Christmas.
I was hoping for one, but honestly, I didn't dream past the entry level one, given the expense. Instead, I got a more souped-up one, with programmed settings and a large, square-ish container and its very own setting for cleaning. Yeah. Nuts. John tends to go overboard at Christmas, in a big way. It's kind of his thing.

I didn't open it until later in the day on Christmas, because I was in disbelief and felt like it was too much. And even though I'd seen countless demonstrations at Wegmans and elsewhere, I was admittedly a little intimidated. I eventually got over it. It comes with a demo DVD that Michael Voltaggio rather flatly narrates. (Bonus: it's made in Cleveland. And I love Cleveland.)

So one day at lunchtime, I made this smoothie for my kids. It couldn't be easier. I call it a Skinny Elvis because it's got the King's favorite foods in it, but there's no bacon involved. If you are a member of the school of thought that believes everything is better with bacon, you could add a couple of slices of cooked bacon. If you're feeling crazy bacon love, the rendered fat, too.

skinny elvis smoothie

And yeah, I know I'm late for his birthday, but better late than never. I actually made this last week, but I digress....

Ingredients

1 container Organic Stonyfield Chocolate Underground yogurt

1 banana

2-3 Tbsp. peanut butter

2-3 Tbsp. honey (you may omit this if you are using regular peanut butter; I added it because I was using peanut butter we'd made strictly from peanuts, right in the Vitamix.)

1 cup of ice

If you have a Vitamix you likely know you're supposed to put the softer stuff on the bottom first.

Directions:

Combine all, and blend until you've reached the desired consistency. If the machine gives you a hard time and looks like it's struggling, stop it, and add 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup water. I've found with yogurt-based smoothies, you sometimes need a little bit of water, depending on how hard or soft (i.e. frozen or fresh) your fruits and veggies are.

Yield: 1 large smoothie, perfect for one hungry person to split between two people. I didn't measure it, but you can see by the photo that it filled two smaller glasses.

I imagine if you don't have the chocolate yogurt, you could approximate this with the same amount (six ounces) of plain or vanilla yogurt, and then add a couple of tablespoons of cocoa powder.